Seeking Information on the School Bus Fires Despite Rebuff from BISD

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

A blog article pandering to local interest might be entitled:  "Joe Rivera Pachanga to Serve Bud Light!" Identifying school bus safety issues is not a sexy topic. After our last article on the subject, a reader, who later identified himself as "Dags," stated:  "Waste of time for all concerned. Get a job, Jim."

Without quick action by two BISD bus drivers, 30 and 29 students respectively could have lost their lives in the school bus fires.  How is it a "waste of time" to detail the causes of those fires and share the results of two independent inspections of BISD buses relative to those causes.  Why wait until dozens of Brownsville school children die in a bus fire and it becomes a national issue?

BISD Public Information
Officer, Drue Brown

With our request for the two reports detailing the cause or causes of the October 4 and 11th school bus fires effectively, but politely, denied via BISD Public Information Officer Drue Brown and Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas, we reached out to other avenues to get information.  We will check with the Attorney General's office in a couple weeks regarding the status of his recommendation as to whether or not BISD should release the reports to us.

Meanwhile, Navistar, the parent company of IC or the International Corporation, has some of the same responsibilities as BISD when it comes to the public dissemination of information.  While BISD is a taxpayer-funded entity, Navistar is a publicly-traded entity.  Just as BISD has a Public Information Officer, Navistar has a Manager of General Business Media Inquiries.  My calendar is marked for an interview with that administrator.

Why would Navistar, the parent company of the International Corporation, release reports that BISD refused to release?  Their incentive may be to clear up any misconception that the fires were due to a manufacturing defect, if that is indeed what the reports indicate.  Even rumors, however inaccurate, associating their buses with spontaneous fires, would not be good for business.  They have a manager of media inquiries for this very purpose, to protect and enhance the company image.  Real dollars and cents are involved here.

Meanwhile, the Mean Mister Brownsville blog has heard from "someone in a position to know." The information shared is beyond mere rumor, but falls below the standard of information documented by an actual report.

FWIW, here is what we've been told:

1.  BISD school buses inspected were observed with an accumulation of accelerants in the engine compartment; oil and other fluids.  This is a basic maintenance issue corrected with regular spray washing of the engine compartment.  A spark could ignite.

2. An aftermarket "fuel-saving" device was installed in a number of buses, compromising the integrity of the fuel line.  Fuel line bursting or leakage around this insertion may have been a combustion source. 

The alleged device may or may not be the ECO Systems Fuel Enhancer sold by Emissions Technology of Texas, LLC, 1373 CR 128, Floresville, TX.  Ben Talamantez is shown as the owner on company documents.

Emissions Technology of Texas has lined up several large customers in the RGV and the region, including:
Victoria ISD, Mercedes ISD, Kingsville ISD, Leander ISD, Donna ISD, Alice ISD, Pharr ISD and Zapata ISD.  No mention is made on their website of Brownsville ISD being a customer.  

The website promises "at least 10% in fuel savings, cleaner air and healthier school employees."  Here is an excerpt from the company's website:

Employee Health

Children ride the bus a few years, but your employees are exposed to emissions from your bus fleet for a lifetime. ECO Systems has helped to reduce harmful particulate exhaust from school buses. Particulates and NOx are major contributors toward asthma attacks in children and are proven to be a cancer causing risk as reported by the American Lung Association.

We're not saying the cause of the fires was connected to the installing of Eco Systems Fuel Enhancers on any or all BISD buses.  If they were, how secure were those installations?  

As for the International Corporation buses having some sort of manufacturing defect, BISD's fleet continues to be composed of a majority ofInternational buses.  Recently, we're told a large order was placed for International Corporation parts. Does it sound like the bus fires were started by a manufacturing defect by International Corporation, Navistar?